Aphasic patients are patients who have lost the ability to understand and produce language due to brain damage. Aphasia can be produced, for example, by stroke. In chronic severely aphasic patients, the patient is permanently unable to read, write, speak or understand spoken communications. In addition, the aphasic patient is unable to learn to use a keyboard or other language based techniques, such as sign language, to communicate. Thus, existing methods to communicate with severely aphasic patients have proven to be profoundly limited.
In the prior art, it was recognized that severely aphasic patients could utilize a computer generating an icon-based language-oriented alternative communication system. These prior art methods have relied upon the basic principle of flash cards, utilizing the power of a microcomputer to implement them. Thus, see for example, "Computer-Based Visual Communication in Aphasia" by Richard D. Steele, Michael Weinrich, Robert T. Wertz, Maria K. Kleczewska, and Gloria S. Carlson, in Neuropsychologia, vol. 27, pages 409-426 (1989). In that article, a C-VIC system for Computer-aided Visual Communication was reported.
The prior art computer-based visual communication system was based upon a flash card system transposed on to the computer screen incorporating automatic organization and a limited hierarchical access scheme. In that system, symbol creation and editing were extremely limited as scenes, animation and contextual cueing functions were unavailable. There was no pre-programing or interactive explanatory feedback. The flash cards were basically unchanging objects that were only transposed and re-arranged, always being of standard size and shape and were essentially inert in behavior.
Other prior art has included: "Evaluating Performance of Severely Aphasic Patients on a Computer-Aided Visual Communication System" by Richard D. Steele, Michael Weinrich, Maria K. Kleczewska, Gloria S. Carlson and Robert T. Wertz, in Clinical Aphasiology, BRK Publishers, Minneapolis, MN (1987); "Processing of Visual Syntax in a Globally Aphasic Patient" by Michael Weinrich, Richard D. Steele, Gloria S. Carlson, Maria K. Kleczewska, Robert T. Wertz and Errol Baker, in Brain and Language, vol. 36, pages 391-405 (1989); "Representations of `Verbs` in a Computerized Visual Communication System" by Michael Weinrich, Richard D. Steele, Maria K. Kleczewska, Gloria S. Carlson, Errol Baker and Robert T. Wertz, in Aphasiology, 1989, vol. 3, pages 501-512 (1989).